[Editorial] Protocol disparities and research governance

July 23, 2016

The Lancet 388, 10042 (2016)

Author: The Lancet

To improve health, research should be reported fully and transparently. If this is not done, it is important to understand why, as discussed today in Correspondence about a trial of neurodevelopmental outcomes after anaesthesia in infancy. Article authors, Andrew Davidson and colleagues, respond to COMPare by explaining that the discrepancies in their reporting were minor errors of omission. Trial registry manager Lisa Askie recommends better updating of outcome details. Meanwhile, the COMPare website states that not only do journals not check for outcome switching, but they routinely permit it.